The Lucky XIII

[NeoGeo123]

SUPERHEROES, CHESS, NINJAS, AND EVIL ORGANIZATIONS BENT ON GLOBAL DOMINAION!

Jeez, what more could you want from an eccentric 14 year old?  

[NeoGeo123]

Here is the cast. I will add more as the story goes along.

Chapter 1

Nick is our hero. He’s sixteen, has a girlfriend and loves to skateboard. He met a nerd named Zane after Nick moved to Colorado when he was ten. Instantly, they became inseparable best friends. Nick is a fighter, and what he lacks in brawn he makes up in attitude and intimidation. Most people are amazed that he wasn’t in juvie by the time he was eight: most people consider him a punk and a delinquent because he came from a bad family and gets into a lot of fights, but deep down, he has a good heart and he always stands up for his friends. He works at his jerk dad’s auto repair shop and as a result is an incredible mechanic. He has a love for music and has piles of CDs. He is also quite proud of his blazing red hair, which suits his personality.
Power: Pyrokineses (Fire mover)

Chapter 1

Zane is not your average nerd. He does have an IQ 236 of and he memorized the first 60 numbers in pi. But he is amazingly still a sophomore. He has purposely kept his grades just below the point where he would have to skip a grade. This is not only because he’s incredibly lazy, he also wants to stay with his friends and doesn’t want to be stared at by everyone as the nerdy genius. Nick is his best friend and they both love to skateboard. Zane always wears an orange knit cap that his brother made him before he went to Afghanistan and was killed. Zane quite literally never takes it off and he won’t even let his brother or sister touch it. He is a master hacker and he can get into nearly anything electronic. He has a secret fear of chickens.
Power: Terrakinesis (Plant mover)

Chapter 3

Don is a bit of a loner, he’s a senior who most people don’t like very much because he’s had a bed rep since the third grade. He is a bit bipolar and is nice to certain people and are complete jerks to others (Like Nick and Zane.) He is also a very good chef and he hopes to open his own restaurant someday. Don’s clothing style is interesting to say the least, he wears more black than someone in The Matrix. He I also a black belt in Kenpo and very skilled at turning anything into a weapon. He also seems to always be hiding something…
Power: Cloning (Up to 3)  

[NeoGeo123]

Here is art. All art related to Lucky XIII that is.

All stuff from me:







All stuff from other people:

From DarkNinjaChik heart

 

[NeoGeo123]

Now finally for the moment you've been waiting for

THE LUCKY XIII

Chapter I: The Laptop

“Hey Nick! Check this out!” Zane said excitedly, rushing out of the restroom stall. The tall redhead who he was yelling to finished washing his hands and turned around to look at him. Zane waved a black laptop in Nick’s face.
“Zane, didn’t your mom ever tell you not to steal?” Nick said to the black haired teen in skater clothes.
Nick and Zane were best friends, they had known each other for roughly ten years. Nick had moved to Colorado Springs when he was six. Zane was the only other kid within four blocks, so they became instant friends. Nowadays, they didn’t have as much in common, but they liked each other anyway.
Nick was very tall for his age, about six foot two. He was very lanky, but his arms were built rather well. He had blazing red hair, and he had a somewhat short temper to match. He had a very handsome face, many girls liked him, but he had a girlfriend, much to the other girls disappointment. He didn’t have a good family. His mom had died during labor and his dad was a violent alcoholic.
Zane was regular size, he wasn’t good looking, but not ugly. He wasn’t well built, but he lifted weights so he wasn’t a total wimp. He had messy black hair which he always had under a orange knit cap that his brother made for him. His brother had died in Iraq and Zane always wore the hat to remember him. He lived with His older sister and little brother after their parents died in a car crash. He had a love for skateboarding, which he shared with Nick.
“It wasn’t stealing, this was sitting behind the toilet. Finders keepers.” Zane replied, scowling at Nick. Nick rolled his eyes and shook his head, smiling. Zane was obsessed with anything electronic. If he got his hands on something electronic, it was his, and that was that.
The two teenagers began walking out of the restroom. A very robust man in a black leather jacket walked past them. He was dark haired, probably in his late thirties. He had a handlebar moustache. The hair on his head was beginning to thin, but it was obviously well taken care of. His enormous arms were partially exposed in the jacket that was at least a size too small for him.
He entered the stall Zane had been in. Nick and Zane stopped and slowly went back to look when they noticed he didn’t shut the door and he seemed to be on his knees in the stall. The man was looking behind the toilet, where the laptop had been. Zane slowly put the laptop in his black messenger bag. The man’s expression was shocked, worried, angry, and many other things all at the same time. The two teens slowly walked out of the restroom quickly and into the park. They made sure to get as far away from the public restroom as possible.
The park was beautiful. The grass was green in many places, but winter was starting to arrive and there were brown patches of grass in many places. Since they lived in Colorado, the park was lined with several lovely pine trees. The ground was flat where Nick and Zane were, but a few feet from them, the ground dropped steeply, went about twenty feet, then dropped again, several yards from that was the road, which never had many cars except for visitors to the park. Nick and Zane liked being there because of the skateboard park nearby. The sunny day today made the park even more pleasant.
Once they had gotten far enough away from the restroom, the two teens sat down on a bench that sat just a bit away from the first drop on the hill. Zane pulled out the laptop again and turned it on. The computer made several cheerful beeps before asking for a password. “That figures…” Zane muttered, grimacing. “But this is a Mac, I can hack into these suckers easily.” he said with a cocky grin.
Nick grinned back. “You probably can, man. I gotta get home now. If I don’t study for that geometry test tomorrow, I’m screwed.” He said as he threw down the skateboard that he’d been carrying to the sidewalk.
“I’ll head home too, I should probably start on The Old Man and the Sea for English.” Zane said, he pulled a skateboard from a pouch on the front of his messenger bag and threw it down beside Nick’s.
“You haven’t finished it yet?! It’s due tomorrow!” Nick said. They each stepped on them and skated down to the street. They turned off to the suburbs before they got to the main road and entered the sea of houses, all the time, chatting about the laptop and many other things.
It was dark by the time Zane sat at his desk, finally ready to tackle hacking into the laptop. He pulled the laptop out of his backpack and set it on the table and hit the power. He then turned on the TV to the news. If he didn’t have something distracting him, hacking into this would be too easy.
Not much interesting was on at the moment, there was just some report on some new movie about a bunch of vampires. How original Zane thought sarcastically. He turned to the laptop again, tuning out the news program. After the cheerful beeps from the laptop, Zane finally went to work.
After roughly two minutes, Zane figured out that the password was 10 characters long. He remembered the guy in the jacket. Zane decided he was a biker and started from there, going through the very obvious passwords, ‘HELLSANGEL’ …no.
‘USACHOPPER’ …nope. ‘HARLYDAVID’ …no. ‘MOTORCYCLE’ … yet again no. This went on for a wile…
It was now midnight, Zane’s head was rested on his desk, his head pressing down on the keys, putting total gibberish on the screen. He was getting very frustrated, non of the passwords he had used had logged in. HE even used a code that would automatically log into the computer, but it somehow was futile, it had no effect on the computer. Whoever the guy was who owned this computer knew a thing or two about them. Zane knew that getting frustrated with hacking would not help with it, so he decided to take a short break. He turned to the TV and gave it his full attention.
He saw a report on a meteorology organization called The Black Chess Pieces. “…ck Chess Pieces were mentioned by the killer of Nevada Governor Dean Heller when the police captured the murderer. Before any more questions could be asked, the killer took a cyanide capsule, killing himself. Whether the Black Chess Pieces are responsible for the murder or not, they are suspects in the murder of Heller and of the recent murder of Maine Governor Michael Michaud. As of now, the President of the Chess Pieces has refused an interview…” The report went on. Zane suddenly realized something and began counting on his fingers.
“8, 9,” Zane froze. “…10…” he muttered to himself, his eyes widening. He immediately swung back to the laptop and the unknown password. Zane began typing furiously “Please be wrong…” he thought as he typed. ‘BLACKCHESS’ Zane finished and hit enter…“Ding! Welcome! You are logged in!” The computer said cheerily.
Nick’s face was buried in his pillow as he had happy dreams of he and his girlfriend. His bliss was interrupted by a banging on his window. Nick opened his eyes, groaning when he realized how tired he was. He sat up and looked at the window. It was Zane and he looked very scared. Nick took a glance at the clock, it was three in the morning. He grumbled in annoyance as he put on some jeans and opened the window.
“Someone better have died or I am going to beat the living hell out of you.” he said groggily. Zane climbed in quickly. Nick shut the door, keeping as much cold air out of his room as possible.
“Two people.” Zane said, sitting on Nick’s bed. Sweat rolled down his forehead. “The governor of Nevada and the governor of Maine.”
Nick raised an eyebrow. He had no idea what Zane was talking about. He went over to his door and flipped on the light switch.
The room was colored sea blue and posters of bands were posted all over the room. At one end sat a small stereo with piles of CD’s in front of it. A small picture of Nick‘s girlfriend sat by his bed. She had long brown hair and she wore a blue scarf and white jacket.
“Something tells me that this has something to do with the laptop. Did you get into it?” Nick said as he reached under his bed and pulled out a coke.
Zane nodded. “How long did it take?” Nick asked, opening the can and taking a sip. Nick noticed that Zane had the laptop with him under his arm.
“Three hours.” Zane replied. Nick did a double take, fifteen minutes was a long time for Zane to hack into a computer if he had a distraction, which he probably did earlier. Without any distraction at all, hacking would take him just a few minutes. Three hours to hack for a computer whiz like Zane was simply shocking.
“Well, what was on the thing?” Nick asked. Zane explained how he got on the computer, then he pulled it out and showed Nick several documents. “See, there are records of the kills that they’ve done, and if you see the schedule of the kills…” Zane clicked a few keys and Google Earth opened. A three dimensional image of the earth appeared. Beside it were several locations with numbers under them.
Zane hit a few more keys. The image zoomed to the United States. Little red flags popped up in many different places in the US with labels on them. ‘1RK’ ‘2PW’ ‘3PW’ ‘4KN’ etcetera. “Those are obviously chess positions. KN for knight, PW for Pawn, RK for-” Zane said, Nick cut him off.
“Rook, I get it. Get to the point now.” Nick said.
“Right, sorry Nick. Anyway, we just stumbled on one of the biggest syndicate operations I’ve ever seen. I don’t think even the Mafia has tried to pull something this massive before.” Zane said, his voice shaky.
“Pull of what?” Nick asked, confused. Zane turned to look at Nick. “They mean to completely destroy the entire US government, and probably more after that.” Zane replied. Nick was sent into enough shock that he had to sit down. “Completely?!”
“Completely…” Zane replied. He closed the programs.
“Well what should we do about this?” Nick said. “If anyone finds out that we have this, then we’re gonna get killed. But if we don‘t tell anyone, half the country is going to get killed.”
“I don’t know what we’re gonna do Nick, I really don-” Zane was cut off by the laptop. “You’ve got mail!” It sang. Zane opened up e-mail.
Congratulations on the success of the last mission, we made the midnight news. It’s a pity your partner had to go as well. Regardless, be ready for the next part of the operation. Finish your current assignment there in Colorado and then get over here. But don’t screw the assignment up, or else.
The Queen
“Your current assignment in Colorado… I wonder what that means.” Zane said to himself. “I’ll have to do some more research on the laptop.”
“You can do that, but we’ll keep talking about this at school. Right now, I want you to get out of my room and let me sleep before my old man realizes you’re here and gives us both a hiding.” Nick said, grinning. Zane grinned back and hopped out the window with the laptop in his hand. Nick laid back down on his bed.
Zane skated home and fell onto his mattress, wanting to pass out.
Neither of them got any sleep that night…  

[NeoGeo123]

Chapter 2: The First Move

Nicks alarm clock began buzzing at the 6:30 mark. It was the most irritating sound one hears in the morning, but it gets him up. Nick was already awake, his fist pounded the top of the alarm clock. He sat up, scratching his blood red hair.
He put on a grey t-shirt as he got out of bed. The shirt was very simple, the only design was a crude picture of a skull with the stars and stripes painted on it. Nick went to his closet and grabbed a pair of black cargo pants. Once he was dressed he went downstairs. The kitchen was empty. His Dad was already next door at his job in the parking garage. Nick grabbed a pop tart and his backpack and went out the door.
Nick pulled a skateboard from his backpack and dropped it on the ground. He jumped on it and rolled down the driveway to the road.
The ride was mostly downhill and Nick enjoyed the wild in his face as he rode. He occasionally jumped on his skateboard. Eventually the road started going uphill to the school. Nick grabbed the back of a car and rode up the hill.
Nick let go of the car and screeched to a halt in front of the school. He kicked his skateboard up into his hand and put it in his backpack, then walked to the cafeteria where he and Zane hung out a lot.
The cafeteria was in a separate building from the school. It was circular and tables were strewn everywhere. Some other kids were at tables, studying for tests and reading books.
Zane was already at their usual table, playing Spore on his laptop. Nick sat across from him. Zane looked up and closed the PC.
“Hey. Where’s the laptop?” Nick asked. Zane held up his own computer.
“I transferred all of the data to this.” Zane said. “I work better on Windows.” He pulled out his iPhone. “And just in case, I put some stuff here as well.”
“Well where’s the laptop now?” Nick asked.
“I got up early today and threw it in the dump, For all I know it’s been destroyed by the rats.” Zane said. “We don’t want people knowing we ever had that thing.”
Nick nodded. Zane would probably go into computer jargon about how he transferred all those files to his computer. That would go way over his head in a few seconds. Surprisingly Zane didn’t say a word about electronic wizardry.
“Florida.” Zane said. Nick raised an eyebrow.
“Excuse me?” Nick asked, very confused at the random comment.
“Remember what that e-mail said last night? ‘Finish what you’re doing in Colorado, and head to the next point.’?” Zane asked. Nick nodded. “I checked the hit list this morning, and they’re heading to Florida after they hit Colorado.”
Nick nodded. A question then popped into his head. “Wait… They’ve been murdering just governors so far, right?” Nick asked. He received a nod in response.
“And one of them is here in Colorado, right?” Nick received another nod.
“Then is Governor Ritter dead?” Nick asked, finally getting to the point
“No, they would’ve said something in the papers today. In fact, Ritter’s giving a speech today.” Zane replied.
“Oh yeah… They’ll be showing it during lunch.” Nick said.
A light bulb suddenly went off in Zane’s head as he realized something. “Do you know if the speech is going to be shown publicly?”
“Yeah, I heard that hundreds of people will… be… there…” Nick said as he realized what Zane was thinking. “Oh no.”
Zane nodded and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Yeah, they’re going to kill him during the speech!” he said.
Zane immediately picked up his iPhone off of the table. He dialed 0 and waited a few seconds. “Governor Ritter’s office please.” he said when the operator came on. He then waited a few more seconds.
“Hello?” A woman answered. “Hi there, my name’s Seth Mitchell.” Zane didn’t use his real name in case one of the Chess Pieces was listening to the call. “I have evidence that proves that someone is planning on assassinating Governor Ritter during his speech today.”
“Get lost, you dumb kid!” The secretary sad before hanging up. Zane sighed and put his phone back in his pocket. “Figures they won’t listen to some sixteen year old.” He said. Nick clenched the end of the table.
The bell rang and Zane and Nick stood up.
“We have to do something.” Nick said as he put his backpack back on his shoulder. Zane nodded in agreement.
“We’ll discuss this during the meeting.” Zane said as he put his laptop in his backpack and put the pack on his shoulder.
“Meeting?” Nick asked. This was met with an annoyed scowl by Zane. “Oh! Right, the meeting after third hour. I remember.” Nick said, Zane nodded, half-grinning as they went to their first period classes.
Our redheaded hero walked out of his chemistry class when the dismissal bell for third hour was done. He remembered the meeting that took place at homeroom and started heading to the classroom. As he walked to his homeroom, Niena ran up beside him.
Niena was Nick’s girlfriend and he considered himself very lucky to be with her. She was arguably the prettiest and smartest girl in the school. She had long, light brown hair and usually had a blue scarf wrapped around her neck and usually wore a white or brown jacket. She was somewhat short and her size was definitely noticeable when she was beside her six foot tall boyfriend.
Nick grabbed her hand and kissed her. “How are you?” He asked.
“I’m great now. Hey, did you hear that we have a visitor at the meeting?” She asked, smiling.
“No, I didn‘t hear about that..” Nick said, putting his hand around her waist.. “I wonder who he is.” Zane walked up between them, making them let go of each other.
“Easy Romeo, You don’t want to have another detention for PDA’s. You’ve had seven already.” Zane joked. Nick grinned and gave his best friend a good-humored punch to the chest.
Nick and Zane sat at the back of the room. Nick was napping after having to get up at 1AM thanks to Zane. Zane was typing on his computer while he was listening to some electronic band. Zane shook Nick’s shoulder to wake him up and the two of them looked to the front of the class when Mrs. Green finally started making the announcements.
After she had said some things about the talent show and some football games, she announced the visitor. “Now class, I’d like you to meet our guest, Mr. Jonathan H. Pawn.” She said. The man from the bathroom yesterday stepped into the classroom. Nick and Zane’s eyes widened as they sank very low into their seats to the point to where the two of them were laying on the chairs. Niena looked over and gave Nick a weird look.
“Mr. Pawn is a meteorologist for the Black Chess Pieces. He’s invited our class to Florida for a week to study the effects of global warming.” Mrs. Green continued, all the while wearing an excited smile.
Nick tore off a piece of paper from his binder and scribbled wildly on it. He then passed the note to Zane: How’d he know that we were in this homeroom?
Zane scribbled on the back of the paper and passed the note back: He must’ve tracked my call and guessed we had the laptop. And Mrs. Green is the only teacher who lets students use laptops.
Nick put the note away just a split second before Mrs. Green would have seen it as she passed permission slips around. Nick saw on the sheet that multiple people would stay in each hotel room. He and Niena grinned mischievously at each other.
Zane punched Nick’s arm. “How can you think of that right now? May I remind you our lives are on the line at the moment?!” he whispered.
“I know. Changing the subject, I gotta find a way to get a hold of three hundred bucks for this thing. My old man wouldn’t give me a nickel to save my life.” Nick said.
“You also forget that I am a hacker. I can steal cash as well as John Connor.” Zane said grinning. Nick grinned back, he had seen Terminator 2, so he understood what Zane meant. “We’ll get the money after school.”
“I owe you for that.” Nick said. Zane waved it off.
A chime sounded from Zane’s laptop. “You’ve got mail.” It said cheerily. Zane opened his E-mail. It was addressed to John Pawn‘s mailbox. Zane had sent everything to his laptop, so he also had access to Pawn‘s E-mail inbox as well. Zane opened the message to find just one sentence:
We will find you.
Zane froze. So they knew someone had the laptop. Zane shut the laptop. Mrs. Green dismissed the class and they all went out the door to go to the cafeteria for lunch.  

[NeoGeo123]

Chapter III: Lunch Time, Chess, Guns, and Other Crazy Stuff

Nick and Zane entered an empty English classroom and sat down at two of the desks. Mr. Joseph, the English teacher was at lunch, so they could talk in this room undisturbed. The room looked like it was from a very strict uniform school. Everything was very tidy, the desks were all in perfect order, and the light yellow walls, ceiling and tiled floors gave it a very official, but boring look to it.
Zane pulled out his laptop from his backpack and opened it up. He turned it on and opened up the live feed of Bill Ritter’s speech that was just starting. They saw the Colorado Governor walking to the stage and the microphone.
“So how do you think he’s gonna do it?” Zane asked as he watched the round faced man talk about the economy today.
“Do what?” Nick asked, confused.
“Pawn is here right now, so how is he gonna kill Ritter?” Zane asked.
“John may not be the only Pawn here in the Springs.” Nick replied.
“Good point” Zane said.
“What‘s a good point?” A tall black haired boy asked as he walked into the room. It was Don Kusac, a Senior at the school. He was a bit of a loner and Zane and Nick disliked him. He was usually rude to them because they were skaters.
“None of your business, Kusac.” Nick snapped.
“I can make it my business, Murdoc.” Don grinned, fixing the black jacket he was wearing. Don‘s sense of style wasn‘t the best. He wore a black shirt, black jeans, and a black jacket.
“Bring it.” Nick growled cracking his knuckles.
“Both of you shut the hell up!” Zane said.
“Alright, now what were you and Reynolds talking about?” Don asked.
After a bit of explaining and threats, Don found out about everything. He seemed a lot less surprised then one would think when he heard how The Black Chess Pieces were trying to destroy the US government..
“Pawn came to my class too. I met him personally, I could tell he was not a nice guy. He sure as heck acted it, but nobody can act around me. Just like you fail to act tough around me, Murdoc.” Don said. Nick stood up at this, his fists clenched, ready to punch Don in the face.
“If you guys start fighting, I will kick you both in the balls so hard that you’ll be breast-less females.” Zane growled. He was not in a good mood. He could tell that Ritter was going to die any second.
Then it happened. The entire room exploded(Not the room our heroes were in, the room Ritter was giving the speech in). In the blink of an eye, the live feed ended and the webpage closed.
“Holy s**t, you were telling the truth.” Don said, wide eyed as he fell into a chair.
“That b*****d... So that’s how he did it.” Zane muttered, his fists clenched.
Nick turned around and walked out of the room to the hall
“Nick, where are you going?” Zane asked, turning in his direction.
“Come along if you like, but I’m going to have a little chat with Mister Pawn.” Nick said with an angry grin. Zane recognized the look that Nick was wearing. He was going to go and pick a fight with Pawn and by the looks of him, Nick probably was going to lose and most likely get killed. Zane got up from his chair and followed is best friend. Don decided to tag along to see Nick get beaten up.
Jonathan Pawn was sitting on the tailgate of his black Ford pickup truck, he was eating a roast beef sandwich and listening to an iPod shuffle. Nick strolled up to the tailgate, Zane and Don in tow. Pawn looked up and took out his ear buds.
“What can I do for you boys?” Pawn said smiling, his expression became edgy when he saw Nick’s angry grin.
Nick looked him over to see if he would be a challenge. He froze when he saw a piece of black leather sticking out of Pawn’s long, black jacket. Pawn saw where Nick’s eyes were looking and pushed the gun back into the jacket as he pretended to scratch his chest.
Nick put his hand behind his back and extended his finger and thumb into the shape of a gun for Zane and Don to see. The both became very nervous. “Ah…” Nick paused, now terrified of the chess piece, “We wanted to ask something.” Nick said, shakily.
“Yes, well what do you want to know?” Pawn inquired, smiling warmly, trying to hide the fact that he was armed.
“Do you play chess?” Zane blurted out. Pawn raised an eyebrow. “Your name gives it away. I want to know because I haven’t found anyone near my skill recently.” Zane continued.
Pawn grinned. “I’m fair at the game. Where could we play?” he asked. Zane motioned for him to follow as the four went to the library, where there was a very beautiful oak chessboard. Zane and John sat down and began playing on the elaborately designed marble chess pieces. Zane chose white, so he went first.
Zane and Pawn were very well matched. Zane focused on weaving through Pawn’s shields to try and attack the higher pieces. Pawn on the other hand focused on protecting his pawns as they crawled to the other end of the board, where they would obtain the same range as a queen. It was nearing the end of the game and there were only a few pieces left.
Zane slid his bishop through the wall made by a knight and a rook to place Pawn into check.
“Checkmate.” Pawn said. Before Zane could blink, Pawn had slid one of his several Queens in front of Zane‘s king. Zane had no way to escape. If he moved his king anywhere, the queen would capture it.
“Wow, somebody finally beat me.” Zane said, chuckling as he sank into his chair.
Don raised his eyebrows. “Someone beat Zane? Wow that’s pretty good, even for a chess piece assassin-” Don clapped his hand over his mouth to stop himself, but it was too late. “-…s**t.” he muttered, lowering his hand.
Pawn’s expression suddenly became furious. He got up and grabbed Zane and Don by the collars, then shot a look at Nick. “You, redhead. If you don’t come with me right now, you know what will happen.” he growled. Nick didn’t need it said twice, he was right behind Pawn as they went behind the school.
Pawn threw the teens against the wall. He pulled out his gun and pointed it at our heroes. “Now boys, how did you find out about me and ?” Pawn said. Don pointed at Nick, Nick pointed at Zane. “Well, four eyes?” He growled.
Zane took a breath. He couldn’t stand it when people made fun of the fact he had glasses. He pushed them up the bridge of his nose as he answered.
“I found your laptop yesterday.” Zane said. Pawn squinted at Zane and immediately recognized him.
“Oh yeah. You were the one in the lavatory.” He said. Zane nodded and Pawn motioned for him to continue.
“We know everything: the hit lists, the positions, the plan. Everything.” Zane said, looking down at the ground.
Pawn smiled. “Humph, I thought it would be much harder to find the little burglar. But thanks to motor mouth over there,” He pointed to Don. “I found him rather easily.” Pawn cocked the gun. “Alright boys, I’m going to kill you now. Goodbye, hope you had good lives.” He said as his finger started to squeeze the trigger.
Then it all happened. Our heroes threw their arms over their faces and something amazing happened. Vines shot from the dirt under their feet and wrapped around Pawn, forcing him to drop the gun. Then the vines lit on fire and began burning the chess piece.
When the teens looked again, there was only a pile of roots and ashes. Nick let out a sigh of relief. But instead of air, Nick breathed out flames like a dragon. Zane watched this in shock. He scratched his head as he wondered what was happening, then was shocked to see a tree right in front of him doing the same action.
“So it finally happened…” Don muttered as he watched this. Zane and Nick looked at him as he said this.
“What finally happened?” Zane asked.
Don smiled. “The Thirteen are all back.”  

[NeoGeo123]

Chapter IV: Explanations

Nick and Zane carried Don to Pawn’s truck by the arms and threw him onto the tailgate.
“Talk, now!” Nick growled. “Who are the thirteen and what the hell happened to us?!” He pulled out a switchblade knife and flipped it open.
Don sighed, scratching the back of his shaggy black hair. He removed his black jacket, exposing enormous arms. No wonder he‘d beaten Nick in fights before. “Okay. Where do I start?…
“Back in the sixth century, King Arthur served as the ruler of all England. He won most of his battles and was considered a very good king because very little went wrong in the country during his reign. But this wasn’t at all by luck that barely anything went wrong as he ruled. Unknown to anyone outside his court. He had fourteen different advisors-”
“-Thirteen.” Nick interrupted. “You had said thirteen earlier.”
“Thank you Murdoc, but I just said fourteen, now shut the hell up and let me finish.” Don said sweetly while smiling.
“Continuing again, there were fourteen different advisors for Arthur. Only one of them was ever known outside his court: the famous Merlin, the wizard who I‘m sure you both have heard of.
“The others, the other thirteen as Murdoc there so astutely noticed, worked in the shadows as generals and keepers of the peace. In the eyes of the general people, they were simply elite soldiers who showed benevolence to the peasants and helped King Arthur win his wars and battles. However, the thirteen had a secret unknown to all. The thirteen were wizards, just like Merlin. However the most famous wizard’s powers were by far stronger than all the others so his secret was impossible to hide. As a result he became a celebrity and a freak to the peasants.
“After a while however, the thirteen disappeared. Many wondered what had happened, but eventually everyone had forgot about them. But some knew and remembered how the thirteen were banished or killed on suspicion of treachery. To this day, nobody on earth knows how the ideas went into Arthur’s head that the thirteen were traitors, but he believed it and one by one, he tricked the thirteen into committing crimes or showing their powers so he could kill them. After that, he quite effectively removed all evidence that the thirteen ever existed from history, burning records, killing anyone who remembered them and removing all records of the thirteen‘s exploits.”
Don finished his little speech and rested his chin in his hand, waiting for Nick and Zane‘s reactions.
“If he removed any evidence of the thirteen’s existence, how do you know so much about them, Kusac?” Nick asked, raising an eyebrow. Don stared back at the redhead as he scratched his black hair again.
“Answer me.” Nick said, raising his voice a little.
Don remained silent. He lifted his head back and cracked it, then returned it to it’s original position.
''I swear I will hit you." Nick growled.
Don stared at Nick like he was a complete moron.
''That's it!" Nick yelled as he sent a punch to the black-haired senior.
Before our red- haired hero could blink, two people who looked like Don had come out of nowhere and grabbed him. One held Nick's fist while the other held Nick's other arm in a Half-Nelson.
''Alright, before I explain who these guys here are, I’d like you both to examine your neck areas." Don finally spoke again.
Zane pulled out his phone and took a picture of his neck. He looked at the picture and saw a number in roman numerals tattooed to his neck: IX. Nick wriggled out of the men's grasp and did the same with his own phone. He found a number tattooed to his neck as well: XIII.
"Understand how I know so much about the thirteen?" Don asked. Nick and Zane shook their heads. Don sighed and lifted up his head to reveal his neck showing another number: XII. ''Do you understand how I know now?"
Nick and Zane had deer-in-the-headlights expressions in their eyes. ''Idiot sophomores..." Don grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Looks like I have to spell it for you. Those marks show that we are reincarnations of ourselves from the 6th century. We are the thirteen."
Nick and Zane's eyes widened and their jaws dropped. Don grinned a bit at the reaction. “As for those guys there, they’re my clones. Cloning is my ability. So you can tell us apart, I’m Black.” He pointed to himself, and motioned to his black jacket, shirt, and pants. “That’s Grey, and Silva.” Don motioned to the clones, who wore the same outfit as Don, but one in grey and one in silver. “This one’s white.” Don pointed to the clone beside him who just came out of nowhere who wore white clothes.
“Uh…” Zane and Nick were still too shocked to speak. Don chuckled, the clones disappeared and he got up. “I think I said too much at once, sit down on the truck.” He motioned for the two skaters to sit on the truck’s tailgate. They did so, practically falling on the truck.
The bell for the next classes rang, fortunately this was free period for all three of our heroes. Nick and Zane finally were able to speak. They were full of questions. Don motioned for them to calm down.
“I’ll explain everything in time, but this is all you need to know. Before any of the thirteen were killed, Merlin had heard about Arthur’s plans and cast a spell on them that would reincarnate them thousands of years to the future. Your memories of the thirteen will slowly come back, but right now, your former selves are still in hibernation and it’ll take a while for them to wake up. I don’t know the whereabouts of any of the other thirteen, but we will find them, or they‘ll find us. But I think that we were brought back in this time because we are supposed to stop the Chess Pieces, and we’ve already made some progress by killing a pawn.” Don said.
Coincidentally, the moment Don finished talking, a cell phone inside the truck rang. Zane got up and opened the door and grabbed the Nokia phone. He looked at the caller ID: Queen. Zane paused. “It’s one of them.” He said. He saw a button labeled “Voice Disguiser” and hit it, Pawn obviously took precautions in case anyone found him out. Zane took a deep breath as he hit the talk button. “Hello?” He said.
“I saw the feed, well done. Did you finish the other job?” A computerized voice asked. She’s using a voice disguiser as well… Zane thought.
“Yes, Ma’am.” Zane said. “Mission accomplished.”
“Cut the crap Pawn, so they’re dead?” Queen asked. Zane recalled how Pawn had been texting during the chess match. So he was planning on killing them anyway. I wonder how he knew we had the laptop… Zane thought.
“Yes Ma’am, all three of them are dead.” Zane replied. There was a long silence.
“Three? Who are you, and stop with the disguised voice, the game is up.” Queen said. Dammit, wrong answer. Zane thought.
“I don’t think I’ll tell you.” Zane replied with no intention of removing the voice disguiser. Nick sighed when he heard Zane talking like he normally did, understanding that she had seen through him.
“You’re that kid who called Ritter’s office aren’t you?” Queen said. It was less of a question and more of a statement.
“I don’t have to tell you a thing.” Zane said. Nick sighed. Mouthing off now, real smart. You‘re getting her more and more mad.
“Well, I doubt you can save Charlie Christ even if you do go to Florida to stop us.” Queen said before hanging up. Zane put the phone in his pocket and looked up to see Nick and Don eager to hear what was said.
Zane simply grinned. “Boys, get your suitcases and don’t forget your sunscreen, we’re going on a trip to Florida.”  

[NeoGeo123]

Chapter V: Burning Anger and Burning Embers

The dismissal bell rang for the final classes of the day. Nick and Zane skated home. Nick opened the door to the auto shop. A black-haired, middle aged man with huge arms stood up from working on an SUV. It was Nick’s dad and as usual, he was scowling with a cigarette hanging from his lip. He went up to our redheaded hero.
“Where the hell have you been, you little punk?” Dad said, glaring at the teen.
“Wherever you haven’t looked, fatty.” Nick said back, smirking.
“Y’know, we’d have a lot more money if you weren’t around.” Dad replied, setting down the wrench in his hand and wiping the oil off of his palms with a rag.
“Oh, wouldn’t you have been lucky?” Nick replied. “You could finally afford that sex change operation you always wanted.”
Nick’s Dad got very irritated at this. “I swear to God, if you insult me once more-”
Nick cut him off, he was on a roll and he wanted to reinforce how the two couldn’t stand each other. “Hey, hey, sorry. I was just teasing. No insult I can think of would do you justice.”
This was the last straw. Nick’s dad sent a punch which could split a log to Nick’s gut, knocking him over.
After the fight with his dad, Nick laid on his bed. The pain from the punch finally stopped hurting. But to piss off the old man was always worth it. Nick reached under his bed and pulled out a can of coke. As he opened it, his cell phone started ringing. He pulled out his phone and picked it up. It was Zane, Nick could hear sobbing on the other end of the line.
“Hey, what’s wrong man?” Nick asked, sitting up.
“Have you wrapped your mind around what we’ve done?” Zane asked. “We just killed a person! We’re freaking murderers for god sake!”
“Zane… You know very well that I’m not good at consoling people, but I can say this: That wasn’t murder. For one thing, our powers did it on their own. And it was self defense so it was legal, I think.” Nick said, trying to make his friend feel better.
“Yeah… I guess.” Zane said, calming down. “Hey speaking of which, what’s been happening to your powers, plants have been going crazy around me.” Nick knew how to answer that.
“You kidding me? I’ve made sure my powers don’t do anything, I’ve kept my hands in my pockets and I’ve barely been breathing.” Nick said. “Wait…” He thought for a moment, then examined the insides of his pockets, which were now burnt to a crisp.
“We need to learn how to control or powers.” Nick said. He heard a yelp on the other line, which then went dead. Before he could call back, another crazy thing happened for the day. A small spark appeared in front of Nick and floated into the air. The spark then grew larger and larger until it became a flame a bit bigger than someone’s fist. Then the really crazy part happened: The flame opened eyes that apparently had been fight at the base of the flame.
Nick was too scared and surprised to even scream. The flame got close to Nick’s face, examining it. “You’re Nick Murdoc, right?” It asked. The fact that it could talk was the most shocking part yet.
“Yeah… And what are you?” Nick said shakily once he wasn‘t as stunned.
“I’m a flame can’t you tell?” It replied mockingly.
“I can see that. I mean who are you? Why are you here? How do you know me?” Nick said, calming down a tad.
The flame paused, as if it never thought about any of that. “…Y’know… I actually don’t know.” he said. “But you’ve been having issues with fire right?” he asked.
Nick sighed. “That’s an understatement. I have no idea how to control this stuff.” he said.
“Well, there’s one thing I do know, and that is that I’m supposed to help you.” The flame said. “I’m going to teach you how to control your fire and train you to use it properly.”
“Um… Okay..” Nick said. “ I’m still really shocked that a talking flame with eyes is in my room but-“
The flame cut Nick off. “Just accept it please. That would make it a lot easier right now”
“Alright, I accept?” Questions were now racing through Nick’s head. What the heck is this thing? Did I involuntarily create this? How the hell is this thing talking?
“Good, we can begin right now.” The flame said.
“Hold it, hold it, two things I need to know before you train me or whatever it is you‘re going to do.” Nick said.
“Shoot.” The flame replied
“What should I call you?” Nick asked.
“Who cares, use your imagination.”
“…Flame?”
The flame sighed “Wow, you really have no imagination at all. Actually think, kid, think!” The flame said, annoyed.
“Uh ..Blaze?”
“That’s still really unimaginative, but it’ll do for now.” Blaze said. “Now what’s the second thing you wanted to know?”
“Can this training crap wait till tomorrow? I’ve had a seriously weird day, and I want to sleep before more of this weird stuff happens. I don‘t want werewolves and stuff to start jumping out.” Nick said.
“Sure, you can sleep, as long as you don’t mind burning a hole straight through your bed.” Blaze said, looking at Nick like an idiot.
“Good point. I that case just teach me how not to incinerate my bed, then. I‘ll learn more tomorrow.” Nick said, enjoying this conversation less and less. How long was he going to be stuck with this thing?
“Okay, it’s actually really simple to stop your powers.” Blaze said.
“I’m waiting.”
“Take a cold shower.” Blaze said.
Nick was silent for a long time. “Excuse me?”
“Take a cold shower.”
Nick raised an eyebrow. “Don’t look at me like that. Your powers just woke up, and I guess they’re trying to wake up completely. A shock to your body like a cold shower will calm them down.” Blaze said, he would have raised his arms in that air at this time if he had any. Nick reluctantly took his advice and walked to the bathroom.
Nick stepped out of the bathroom after the shower, shivering like mad. Blaze chuckled. “You don’t take many cold showers I see. And jeez, kid. You need to work out, I may not know much, but I know that you have nearly no muscle whatsoever.” Blaze nodded to Nick’s currently shirtless chest. He didn’t have ripped muscles, but for a sixteen year old, he had fairly good abs and biceps.
“Shut up. Not everybody has pecs like Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s.” Nick replied, glaring at his new ‘friend’.
“Who?” Blaze asked.
“Never mind. Hey I have another question. My buddy Zane screamed and hung up on the phone just a couple seconds before you showed up. Anything you know that you should tell me?“ Nick asked as he put on a t-shirt.
“No I don’t know anything about that, maybe he saw a mouse or something.” Nick glared at Blaze “Sorry, didn’t mead to insult your pal. Anyway, you aren’t breathing fire anymore, so you’re safe. You can sleep now.” Blaze said.
Nick didn’t have to have it repeated. He leaped into his bed, making a loud thud when he landed. The moment he did, he was out like a light.  

[NeoGeo123]

Chapter VI: Air Travel is Dangerous.

“All passengers on flight 714 to Miami please be ready to board in ten minutes.” A lady on the PA system said. Forty high school students sat at the boarding area for Flight 714. Nick, Zane, and Don included. Nick and Zane were rag dolls in their chairs, exhausted. Neither of them had been at school since Monday and neither wanted to tell why.
Don got up from where he was sitting and went up to the two sophomores. He grabbed them by the collars and took them to the men’s restroom, which fortunately was empty when they entered.
“Show them to me.” Don said. Zane raised his eyebrows. Nick wondered if he was talking about Blaze. “Look, you both know what I’m talking about so show them to me.”
Nick sighed and pulled out a lighter and lit it. Instead of a flame, Blaze appeared. That was a trick for hiding in public. Zane stared at the flame with eyes. “Wow…cool.” he said. Blaze’s flames reflected off of the industrial white floor and walls.
“Your turn Zane.” Don said. Zane lifted up the side of his hat. A pink daisy with vines protruding from it’s back and a single yellow slit eye where the stigma should have been, crawled out of the hat and rested on Zane’s shoulder.
“Hephaestus, Demeter.” Don said, nodding to the two little creatures.
“Who?” The plant asked, scratching one of her petals with one of the vines.
“Oh, my apologies.” Don said. “I forgot that you two probably remember the sixth century as much as Nick and Zane right now. You miss plant-”
The plant cut him off. “Call me Arboreal.” she said,
“My apologies again. You, Miss Arboreal are the incarnation of the goddess of plants, Demeter.” Don said. Arboreal excitedly shifted herself on the black-haired teen’s shoulder.
“And you mister flame…” Don said, getting cut off again.
“Blaze.” the flame corrected.
“Blaze, are the incarnation of the fire god , Hephaestus.” Don said.
“Sweet.” Blaze said, a smug look in his eyes.
Zane, who knew a lot about Greek history, put his mind in. “Demeter was Hephaestus’s aunt, right?”
“Yes, that’s right. And as I remember, Hephaestus tried to rape Aphrodite. What a suiting familiar for you, Murdoc.” Don said, being met with glares from Nick and Blaze.
“Anyway, those two are you teachers as you’ve already learned. But they’re also you familiars and partners. They’ll never leave you.” Don said. “And I sure feel sorry for them.” This was received by cold stares from Nick and Zane.
“Do you have a familiar?” Nick asked, ignoring both insults from Don.
“Yeah, you already met them. Gemini, the twins, or triplets in my case. When I met them, I just knew them as Grey, White, and Silva.” Don replied.
Two men entered the bathroom. Blaze and Arboreal quickly returned to their hiding places. “We’ll continue later, the walls have ears.” Don whispered as he turned around and exited the now occupied bathroom, Nick and Zane followed close behind the black-haired senior.
They returned just in time to see a very beautiful woman with bright orange hair talking to the classes. “-name is Elizabeth Queen. I’m the VP of the Black Chess Pieces.” She said. The three teens immediately knew what this meant. This was the Queen who had been sending messages to Pawn. Zane concluded that she had gotten mad at him and had decided to come and wipe them out herself before they reached Florida and attempted to stop their assassination plan.
Don quickly turned himself and the two sophomores around. Zane and Nick looked at him.
“You know her?” Nick asked.
“Yes and if she sees something, we’re all dead.” Don said as he pulled his shirt collar back, hiding the XI tattooed on his neck. It came to Zane immediately. He took a quick glace after he pulled his brown undershirt up to hide the IX on his neck.
He whispered to Nick what Nick needed, but really wished he didn’t to listen to. “She’s one of us, she’s number seven.” Zane muttered. Nick immediately pulled back his grey t-shirt to hide the XII on his chest.
They all turned around and listened to the woman talk about global warming. All three teens knew she was just giving a speech to make everyone think she really cared if they knew about naturalism or not. Sure enough, on her neck was the number VII.
After Queen’s speech, it was time to board the plane. Nick was seated near the back beside Niena. Nick was deep in thought about a few things. Don said that the Thirteen were supposed to defeat the chess pieces, and yet the queen is one of us. Maybe Don was wrong. And I wonder if it’s just by chance that I’m number thirteen in a group of thirteen people. Does that make me the worst of them or something? Nick was brought out of his train of thought by Niena who got his attention with a smile that Nick absolutely loved.
Nick grabbed Niena by the waist and pulled her close to him. He stroked her hair and kissed her.
Don was sitting by himself. He didn’t seem to be thinking much about the queen being with them. He had The Odyssey open and was reading about the Cyclops.
Zane was seated next to Queen. They seemed to both love electronics and had already jumped into a conversation about electronic wizardry.
Nick thought of something and texted Zane. “u kept dat ting n ur hat? u don’t evn let me touch ur hat”
“What do u suggest I use, a boutonniere? >: (” Zane texted back angrily.
“Someone pissing you off?” Queen asked the teen as she put her own phone away.
“My friend was being dumb.” Zane replied. Queen smiled and chuckled a bit.
“What?” Zane asked.
“You just remind me of someone, that’s all.” Se replied. Zane hoped she didn’t recognize him from the phone on Monday.
“Attention passengers, a bomb has been detected in the cargo hold. We are making an immediate landing.” The flight attendant announced.
Instantly there was panic. Everybody was running and screaming. Nick stood up to search for Zane and Don, leaving Niena. Don found him first. “Give me the lighter.” Don said as he pulled them both into a lavatory to avoid the crowd. Nick raised an eyebrow. “This is no time for questions, give me the god-damned lighter.” Don growled. Nick pulled it out and handed it to Don. Don took the lighter and shot his other hand out of the lavatory. He pulled it back, pulling Zane with it, who was passing by in the chaos.
Nick and Zane’s phones rang. They pulled them out, both were from Don. They looked at him, his eyes were closed and his phone was in his pocket. Confused, they opened it and a live video was there. The video was of the side of a plane and several people running around inside. “White and Grey are using their phones.” Don said. “Now I need your help. They both have lighters and corsages that I took from a girl. Now Zane, I need you to open up right here using the corsages.
“Who are those people on the wing?” A person screamed
“I don’t know, all three of them are wearing ski masks.” Another said.
Zane understood what he meant. Don had sent his clones to the planes wing to get rid of the bomb, which he assumed the chess pieces had planted. He started concentrating, the flower turned into a vine and slithered to the side of the plane, All of this being shown on the video. It grabbed the metal and ripped off a chunk of it. The chaos was stopping and people were now staring out the window at the three people on the wings who were ripping up the plane.
“Don’t let go of that metal, Zane. Nick be ready to use your flames.” Black said. They saw on the screens that Silva, in a ski mask, had jumped into the hole in the side of the plane. A few moments later he came out with a suitcase.
The people had completely quieted down now, knowing that these three masked people were their only hope. A few people were muttering encouragement to them.
“When I throw that suitcase, I want you to hurl a fireball at it.” Black said. Nick nodded. Grey lit the lighter as Silva threw the suitcase into the sky. Fireballs shot from the lighter and caused the suitcase to explode. Cheers erupted from the passengers. Nick and Zane felt quite good about themselves.
“We aren’t done yet, Zane put the metal back on, Nick, weld it on.” Black said, his eyes were still closed concentrating on the other three clones.
Zane made the vine place the chunk of metal back in it’s place. Nick used the lighter as a flamethrower to weld the metal back together. They had done it.
“Nice job guys.” Don said smiling as he opened his eyes. Everybody was chattering about where Grey, White, and Silva went.
“Did they disintegrate? People don’t disintegrate, stupid. Well maybe they jumped off. Suicidal people, sure. Well maybe we dreamt it? All one hundred and twenty of us had the same dream,? You’re a real idiot.”
Nick immediately ran to look for Niena. She was in the horde of people who were gradually sitting down, full of chatter. As Nick got closer, he saw that she was in tears.
“Where did you go? I was so scared.” Niena said.
“I panicked.” Nick said. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have left you.” he pulled Niena into a hug. She threw her arms around him, putting her head on his chest. Nick rubbed her back, trying to comfort her.
As Nick and Niena were having an emotional moment, Pawn’s phone, which Zane carried around to talk with the Queen in case she ever called, rang. Zane picked it up.
“You did well, you little heroes got rid of the bomb I planted.” Queen said, using the voice disguiser, but Zane already knew who she was.
“It was nothing ma‘am, just a day in the life of the average boy. We were glade to help everyone out.” Zane said. He had set the voice disguiser so that Queen was sure not to recognize him.
“Mouthy punk, but you gave yourselves away, I know you’re on the plane now. So it‘s just a matter of time before I find you. Toodle-oo.” Queen said before hanging up. Zane exited the bathroom and bumped into Queen who was in the bathroom across the hall.
“You had a panic attack too?” Zane said.
“I’m not the bravest girl alive.” Queen said with a forced smile.
“So much for air travel being safe.” Zane joked, smiling back as they walked to their seats. You wait, Queen. You wait.
They showed the movie 9 and the rest of the flight went smoothly.  

[NeoGeo123]

Chapter VII: No Noise in the Library
All of the students exited the plane, very excited. If you have ever been in a large group of excited teenagers, you would immediately know very well that it is extremely loud. Everyone was talking, crying, and texting their friends. Their lives had been saved and only three people knew who on earth saved them. Nick, Zane and Don exited the plane last. Nick was with Niena and they were both talking about the people on the wing. Don and Zane were together talking about Greek gods and The Odyssey. The Queen was near the back, she seemed to be very deep in thought about which of the students were part of the thirteen.
The teens all boarded the busses outside the airport that went to the hotel. None of our heroes talked much while they were on their busses. They were still ecstatic about saving the plane, but they didn’t want Queen to figure them out so they kept their mouths shut so nothing would slip like when they met Pawn.
At the hotel, Mrs. Green and her husband called out room numbers and student’s names after they checked in. They students all headed to the rooms. Conveniently, Nick, Zane, and Don were placed together in room 139. They sat down on the bed and talked about what do to about the Queen.
“Alright, she’s going find out about us if we don’t do something.” Nick said.
“Maybe we should follow her.” Zane suggested.
“We don’t even know where she is, genius.” Don noted. All three of them sighed in harmony, knowing Don was right.
As if fate took pity on our heroes, they heard Mrs. Green speaking with the Queen just outside of their room.
“Just give them this pass when you go to the center. They‘ll let you in and give you all a tour.” Queen said.
“Thank you, but where are you going?” Mrs. Green asked.
“I have to go do some research at the library, and I probably won’t come back to the hotel. Do you know how to get the research center from here?” Queen asked.
“Yes, I have a GPS in the car I rented, and you directions are great as well.” She said.
“Well then I’ll be off. Goodbye, Mrs. Green.” She said as she stepped into her car and drove off.
Our heroes were silent. Nick finally broke the tense silence. “That was extremely convenient.” He said. “Well let’s go.”
“Alright, I’ll call a cab.” Zane said. Don groaned and sank into the chair, not in a relaxing way but as if he was in pain. Nick and Zane looked to see if Don was okay.
“I’m going to stay.” Don moaned. “I think I’m getting some altitude sickness and we wouldn’t be very inconspicuous if I threw up in the library.”
“Well then, rest up and we’ll go alone.” Nick said. Zane was on the phone, arguing about the base fare.
After roughly half an hour, Nick and Zane stood inside a tall, long hall with oak walls, the somewhat low lights gave the entrance of the library a very grand feel to it. After marveling at the hall, the teens split up to look for their target, the queen.
Zane entered a reading area. It was just as grand as the entrance hall. Bookshelves stacked so high that ladders sat at every bookcase. Several tables and chairs were strewn across the room on top of an elaborate Oriental rug. He saw a girl about his age, playing chess on the sole table with a chessboard. She was playing a game against herself, most likely going through a previous game she had played. Suspecting she was a chess piece from the placement of the pieces, he sat down across from her. “Want someone to play?” He asked.
The girl smiled sweetly. “Sure, I’m Caroline Citadel.” she said, quickly putting the pieces back in their proper order.
Zane suspected that she was using a fake name, so he used one of his many aliases as well. “I’m Hunter Robinson, nice to meet you Caroline.” He said. Caroline had finished putting the pieces back in their proper places, all of them facing in exactly the correct direction. Zane grinned as he moved a white knight out.
Nick was in a research room, hiding behind a bookcase, watching Queen through the shelf. She was typing on one of the computers lining the walls, but Nick couldn’t see what she was typing.
“Come on out kid, I know you’re there.” The Queen said as she got up and turned around, staring directly at Nick through the shelf.
Nick sighed and stepped from the bookcase.
“Why were you watching me?” she asked.
“Well…” Nick stalled, trying to think of an excuse “You’re really pretty.” Nick said, and it wasn’t a lie. She was beautiful with her bright orange hair and her smooth, somewhat pale skin.
“Someone as forward as you wouldn’t be hiding. Why were you watching me?” She said.
“Because I’m stalking you.” Nick said quickly, which wasn’t far from the truth either.
Queen quickly reached out and grabbed Nick’s shirt collar then yanked it down to reveal the 13.
s**t. Nick thought, scrunching his eyes shut and sighing in annoyance.
“So you’re finally awake then, thirteen. What’s your name in this life?” Queen asked, smirking.
“Elizabeth Queen.” Nick hissed, hitting her hand from his shirt collar.
“Alright then, Seth Mitchell. I’m going to do you a favor. Do you have a ski mask or something that would cover your face?” She asked, assuming that Nick had been the one answering the calls. She might has well have, since he was trying to stop her as well.
“I don’t pack things like that for Florida unless I intend to rob a bank.” Nick replied. Queen pulled out one from her pocket and handed it to him.
“Put it on.” Queen said as he pulled up her hoodie. She then zipped it up to where her face wasn’t exposed, but eye holes were cut so that she could see. “That way no one will know who you are when we fight.”
Nick reluctantly put the ski mask on. “Okay, we ready?”
“Yes.” Queen said, the punched Nick so hard that he flew into the wall.
Zane and Caroline were having quite an intense game. Caroline was destroying all of Zane’s pieces one by one relentlessly, and for the entire game, she hadn’t lost a single piece. She was much better at chess than pawn was. Zane was very frustrated by the time his King was the only one left.
He jumped when he heard a crash. “Oh, Miss Queen must be killing Seth Mitchell now.” Caroline said. Zane turned to look at Caroline. “Oh, do you know Seth?” She asked before something hit Zane in the back of the head and knocked him out.
Meanwhile Nick and Queen were having an intense fight. Nick was doing his best Dodging Queens attacks using his fire while she hadn’t yet show her ability. He decided he was winning though. The best offense is a good defense. The best defense is not getting hit. She’s going to wear herself out and then I can beat her. Nick thought.
And it was true, she seemed to be getting tired of sending these bone shattering punches.
“Hey Nick.” Blaze said as he appeared from the lighter In Nick‘s hand. “Try using the Bandicoot, that could stop her.”
Nick agreed. He lit the lighter and then put two fireballs in his hands. He threw two in the air and did a spin kick. His foot hit the fireball like a bat hitting a baseball and the flame shot at Queen. But Nick span a second time and hit the second fireball.
The flames shot at the chess piece and hit her in the face and the stomach. She fell over, her mask singed off and her chest burnt. She slowly got up. “Okay, okay, I concede. You win.” She said.
This has got to be a trick. Nick thought.
“It is.” Queen said. As Nick wondered how she knew what he was thinking, he felt dizzy. He fell to the ground and the world went black.  

[Dark Ninja Chik]

ok, fully edited, time to start reading! heart  

[NeoGeo123]

Chapter VIII: Breakout
“Nick?….Wake up, Nick.”
Out redheaded hero opened his eyes. Zane was looking down at him. Nick sat up and started coughing. When he caught his breath, he looked around, they were in a concreter room with a bunk bed at the wall and a phone beside the door.
“Where are we?” Nick asked.
“Probably the basement of The Chess Pieces‘ HQ.” Zane replied. “Someone knocked me out and took me here and judging by the look of you, you found Queen and lost in a fight with her.”
“Make fun of me about it and you’re dead.” Nick replied. “Now how are we supposed to get out?”
“I don’t know, there’s a guard outside so we can‘t just break out.” Zane said.
“Wait… I just got an idea, remember that movie with the ninja kids?” Nick asked.
“Oh yeah, they were trapped in a room like this. Do you think we can get out the same way?” Zane asked.
“Any better ideas?”
Zane shook his head. Nick picked up the phone by the door. “Yeah, I’m in the kid’s cell, I want to test the phone.” Nick said before hanging up.
A few seconds later the phone rang. The guard opened the door and picked up the phone. Nick punched him in the head. The guard hit the wall and fell to the floor, out cold. “How about that, it worked.” Nick said.
“Now let’s get out of here.” Zane said as they ran out of the room and into the hall. They ran down the hall till they ran into four more guards.
Zane held Nick back when he saw a tree beside them. “Allow me.” He said. One of the tree’s branches reached around the guard’s heads and hit them all together, knocking them out. They then ran down the hall again. Zane picked up the small tree as they turned the corner.
They came into an open room where meetings were likely held. Nick sighed.
“Now this is where tons of guards come from everywhere and try to stop us.” Nick said. Sure enough, at least 40 guards came and blocked the doors.
“And now this is the part where we kick their asses.” Zane said as they ran at the guards.
Zane and Nick were on the floor, five guards were on each of them.
“You heard the Queen’s orders. Kill the skinny one with the hat, leave the redhead alive.” One of the guards said.
“What?!” Zane said. “Why me?!”
One of the guards holding Zane down pulled out a gun and put it on Zane’s head.
“Please, no.” Zane sobbed, tears running down his face.
“If you do, I will do a lot worse than kill you, you a*****e.” Nick growled.
Before the guard pulled the trigger, someone tackled him. It was a figure in all black, with black cloth covering their head except for their eyes. They then jumped at the other four guards with a katana drawn. They slashed the guards and killed them all in one blow. The other five guards got up and rushed at the figure in black.
The person put their hand in a bag at their side, then pulled it out with throwing stars in their fingers. They threw the stars at the guards. A star hit each guard in the face. The ninja then slashed them all with their sword.
Nick and Zane got up slowly. “Thank you.” Zane said, wiping his face.
“Who are you?” Nick asked.
The ninja grabbed their shirt collar and pulled it down to reveal the III on their chest.
“A friend. That’s all you need to know for now.” The person said. “Now follow me, I can get you out of here.”
Nick and Zane nodded and followed them quietly.
Nick, Zane and the person in Black came out of an air duct vent. Nick and Zane turned around and saw a towering black skyscraper in front of them.
“There, you’re out. Now I must be off.” The person said.
“Thank you so much, I hope we will see you again” Nick said. Zane was quiet, looking at the ground.
The person nodded, then ran off, as they rounded the corner, they pulled off their mask. Nick caught a glimpse of long, dark brown hair before the person disappeared.
Nick and Zane were both silent.
“We should get back to the hotel.” Nick said as he walked towards the sidewalk.
“Why not you?” Zane muttered. Nick turned around.
“Why were they supposed to kill me and not you?” Zane said. “What’s so goddamn special about you?”
“I don’t know Zane. But You aren’t going to die. I’ll make sure of that.” Nick said, he held his hand out, palm up. “Skin it.” he said.
Zane sighed. He slid his hand down Nick’s. He turned it over and Nick did the same. Nick patted Zane’s shoulder and they walked towards the sidewalk.
Nick and Zane walked up to the hotel. They went to their room and opened the door. Don was there, his eyes closed, obviously using his clones. He opened his eyes slightly, then opened them completely. “Where have you guys been, and what happened to you?!” Don said. Nick and Zane told him the whole story.
Don was silent. “They’re serious. We better go to the capital building tomorrow.”
“So you don’t know anything about killing Zane but not me?” Nick asked.
“…No. Anyway, it’s late, we need rest for tomorrow. Lucky for you no one else noticed you’ve been gone.” Don replied.
After a few coin tosses, Nick laid down on the couch and pulled a blanket up. Don and Zane laid on the beds and did the same. They all closed heir eyes and fell asleep quickly since all three were exhausted.  

[NeoGeo123]

Chapter IX: The Almost Murder of Charlie Christ And The Birth Of Three Heroes
The pool at the hotel was crammed with teenagers. The field trip to Chessboard Naturalism wasn’t until tomorrow, and everyone wanted to get some fun in before they had to listen to people talk about global warming.
Nick and Zane were balancing Niena on their shoulders. Nick and Zane both were wearing rash guards to hide their numbers and Zane was wearing is hat, which was currently soaked.
Zane’s phone rang and he ran to the edge of the pool. Niena crashed into the water and came up scowling. Nick couldn’t help laughing. Niena’s mouth twitched before she broke into a grin.
Zane ran back to our redheaded hero. “It’s Don, he wants to meet us at the front.” He said.
Nick sighed. He grabbed Niena and kissed her before climbing out of the pool.
Nick and Zane left the hotel to see a red convertible out in the front of the hotel. The window rolled down to reveal Don, smirking.
“Hop in, morons.” He said. Nick opened the door to the front seat and climbed in. Zane entered the backseat. Don started the car and drove off.
“So where’d you get the wheels?” Nick asked.
“My granddad lives around here, so I visited him and asked to borrow his car.” Don said.
“Where are we headed?” Zane asked.
“Man, you sophomores are stupid, you completely forget why we came here.” Don sighed, rolling his eyes.
“Sand, sun, and general fun?” Zane joked.
“To rescue Charlie Christ, moron.” Don said. “We’re heading to St. Petersburg and getting him out of his house, I have a feeling that’s where they’re going to kill him.”
“Try to kill him you mean. We’re gonna save him.” Nick said, grinning.
“Now you’re talking, Murdoc.” Done said, smiling.
Don pulled up to a large house. He shook Zane and Nick awake. They sat up. They had been on the road from dawn to dusk all day yesterday and they were really tired. They rubbed their eyes and took a sip of some coffee that they had got that morning. They took a look at the house.
“Is this it?” Nick asked.
“Yep, the governor’s house.” Don said, yawning.
“Zane, When does it say that the assassination will start?” Nick asked. Zane whipped out his laptop and opened up Pawn’s files.
“In about…” Zane looked at his watch. “Three minutes!”
Nick Zane and Don put on some ski masks and hopped out of the car. They ran up to the house and grabbed the door handle. Locked. Nick kicked it open. The first lady, Carol Christ, was there and screamed.
“Stay calm, we’re here to help. Someone’s trying to kill you and if you don’t get out of the house now, you’re going to die.” Don said. The first lady didn’t seem to believe them. Don sighed. “Sorry, but-” He said as he walked up to her and grabbed her. “You guys find Christ, I’ll get the kids. He said as Grey and White appeared and ran off. Don then went outside.
Zane and Nick ran upstairs. “Two minutes.” Zane said, checking his watch.
Nick and Zane split up at the top of the stairs. Nick was the one who found the governor of Florida. Charlie Christ had a rifle and aimed it at Nick. “You can leave, kid.” he said. Nick pulled out a lighter and lit it, then walked toward Charlie Christ.
The governor fired his rifle. The lighter’s flame shot in front of the bullet and melted it to a liquid. Nick grabbed the rifle and grabbed Christ, then hoisted him over his shoulder. He checked his watch. “One minute.” he muttered. “Zane, I found him, let’s get out of here.” He called. They both met at the stairs and rushed down, Christ kicking and yelling.
Zane checked his watch. “Thirty seconds.”
They sped through the house as fast as they could.
“Ten seconds.” Zane said, Nick was starting to hurt from the kicks.
“Five.” Nick and Zane were nowhere near the door yet. Zane mad some houseplants wrap around their waists.
“Four.” The vines picked up Nick and Zane. Christ was now completely freaked out. A moment ago, the person who held him had melted the bullets from his rifle, and now the one in the orange was making houseplants come alive. The plants reached back.
“Three.” The vines paused, Zane aimed.
“Two.” The vines hurled the teens and the governor at the door.
“One.” They fell short, they started going towards the floor. Suddenly, Silva, White and Grey appeared out of nowhere. They put their hands on the heroes backs.
“Zero.” With all the force they could muster, they shoved the three people the few feet to get out the door.
Just a split second after they were out, the entire house exploded, sending flames and debris everywhere. Don’s clones had disappeared before this fortunately.
Nick put down Charlie Christ, who ran to his wife and two stepdaughters and hugged them. Don stepped back from where he and the girls had been.
He turned back to Nick. “…Thank you.” he said. Nick gave him a thumbs up while smiling, the mask hid the smile though.
Zane looked at the burning wood and saw that it had set parts of the lawn on fire. He tapped Nick’s shoulder and motioned to the lawn. Nick nodded and put all the flames into a ball, which floated to Nick’s hand. He clapped his hands together and put the flame out.
“Who are you?” Charlie Christ asked. Our heroes turned and looked at him. “You must be superheroes or something.”
All three looked at each other. “We never really thought of ourselves that way.” Nick said.
“Well, you should. I mean you’re like the fantastic three or something.” Christ said, excitedly.
“Okay…” Don said, obviously a bit uncomfortable with this attention.
“So what do you want to call yourselves?” Christ asked.
“Umm.. The Lucky Thirteen?” Nick suggested.
“But there are three of you.” Christ raised an eyebrow.
“No there are thirteen of us, we all have numbers too, see?” Nick said, showing his XIII. Don and Zane showed their numbers.
“Oh.. Are you the leader?” Chris asked.
“Say what?” Nick asked.
“Are you like the leader, the number thirteen?”
“I doubt it, not all of us are even good guys.” Nick said.
“Well, what’s your superhero name?”
“Why should I have one? Why can‘t I just be number thirteen?”
“That’s lousy, every superhero has a cool name.” Christ said. “In fact as governor of Florida, I’ll give you superhero names.”
He turned to Don. “You, you split yourself in to four different people with four different hearts and minds. You are Number Eleven: Quartet.” Christ said, shaking Don’s hand. Don tasted the word as he grinned.
He then turned to Zane. “You, you are one with nature, the trees obey your orders. You are Number Nine: Fly Trap.” Christ shook Zane’s hand. Zane decided that that was a cool name and nodded.
He then turned to our redheaded hero. “You, the one who played the main role in saving my life, you control the flames and your courage is blazing. You are Number Thirteen: Inferno.” Christ shook Nick’s hand. Nick smiled, knowing that after this, he would be a hero and that he would have even more adventures.  

[NeoGeo123]

Chapter XI: Who Are You?
Nick walked down the road, illuminated by the streetlights. He needed to be alone after he got back. He was wrapped in a jacket since snow had covered the ground.
“Hey, you.” A voice called out from an alley. Nick turned to see a group of three or four guys looking at him.
“Can I help you?” Nick said. The guys got up and walked toward Nick and circled him.
“You’re out awfully late.” One of them said. “You seem a little young to be in the streets now.” Nick looked at the guy’s shirt. On it were three letters: BCP. Nick knew this wouldn’t end well.
“What do you care. Go back to your little hang out, finish jerking off, and I’ll be on my way.” Nick replied as he walked again. One of the guys stopped him.
“The kid’s got a bit of a mouth.” He said. “Hey, I recognize you. You’re that Murdoc Kid. You live by the auto garage.”
“Big deal, get out of my way.” Nick said. One of the guys walked off, The circle closed in on Nick.
“Ordering me around.” The guy said. “I think me and my boys should teach you a lesson.” He cracked his knuckles and swung at Nick.
Nick ducked and the punch hit another one of the men. He fell over and laid in the snow, his nose bleeding. Nick swept the leader’s legs from under him, knocking him down. Nick then got up and turned, sending a punch to the third guy, which knocked him over.
“Stay down, it’s a good look for you.” Nick said as he continued down the street.
Nick walked up to his house. His old man was probably sleeping by now. He pushed open the door and walked in. The first thing he saw was shattered glass on the floor. He saw that the window was broken.
“Crap! That was just to stop me while they went and got my old man.” Nick thought as he rushed to his Dad’s room. He opened it and saw his Dad laying on the ground at the wall. He was about to enter when a hand grabbed him. He spun around. The person in black, the ninja who had saved Zane and Nick at the Chess Piece’s HQ. They put a finger to where their mouth was, signaling to be quiet. Nick nodded.
The ninja flipped into the room, immediately, an automatic weapon went off. Nick saw the ninja running and dodging the bullets as they pulled out a knife. They then threw it at the Chess Piece’s minion, who Nick had figured out had waited for Nick to enter the room and kill him.
The knife flew straight and hit him in the face. The minion fell over. The ninja walked out of the room.
“Who are you? You’ve saved me twice.” Nick said.
The ninja replied. “Consider me a friend until the right time comes.”
“I also have some questions.” Nick said. “Why are you always saving me?”
“Because you are too important to die.”
“But why did they want me alive back at the building?”
“Look at your right arm, at the inside of the elbow.”
Nick rolled up his sleeve. The ninja lit match to so Nick could examine is arm. A small puncture wound was at the inside of the joint.
“That was from a needle. They kept you alive until they got a blood sample.” The strange figure said.
“Why?”
“They must need our DNA for some reason. I don’t know why yet.”
“Finally…” Nick stopped himself as he noticed something in the light of the match.
“You… you have yellow eyes.” Nick said.
The figure shook out the match. “Yes, I saved you three times. The minion at the hotel was going to try and kill you as well.”
“What’s your ability?” Nick said.
The figure pulled out a small ball of paper. They threw it down and a bright flash erupted from the ball. When Nick’s eyes adjusted themselves again from the flash, the figure was gone.
“That ninja person is way too mysterious.” Nick muttered, pulling out his phone.
Zane’s phone rang, waking him up. He picked it up: “NICK CALLING.” He picked it up.
“Hello, this is Zane.” He said, hoping Nick was okay.
“Zane, it’s Nick.” Nick said on the other line.
“I know, I saw your name on the ID. You alright?” Zane asked.
“N-no…something’s happened.” Nick replied.  

[Dark Ninja Chik]

glad to see your still posting 3nodding I will reread it asap, but tonight im uber busy dramallama